Driving arrangement for the impression cylinder printing press



A. BUTTNER DRIVING ARRANGEMENT FOR THE IMPRESSION Feb. 9, 1960 CYLINDER PRINTING PRESS 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Aug. 5. ,195e

Feb. 9, 1960 A. BUTTNER DRIVING ARRANGEMENI FOR THE IMPRESSION CYLINDER PRINTING PRESS 2 sheets-smet 2 United States ele'flli 0 DRIVING ARRANGEMENT EoR THE IMPRESSION CYLINDER PRINTINGr PRESS Artur Buttner, Heidelberg, Germany, assignor to Schnellpressenfabrik A.G. Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany, a corporation of Germany Application August 5, 1958, SerialI No. 753,324

Claims priority, application Germany January 31, 1958 2 Claims. (Cl. 101-282) The present invention relates to cylinder printing presses and more particularly to a drive arrangement for the impression cylinder of cylinder printing machines.

Various driving mechanisms are knownlfor driving the impression cylinder of a printing press to rotate it an irregular or variable angular speed in one direction. These driving arrangements may be divided into two groups, namely those in which the impression cylinder is continuously driven by means of an independentgear arrangement, and those in which the impression' cylinder is driven directly from the type bed and partly by means of a periodically engaging gear mechanism. In the latter type of arrangement there occurs a change of driving means and with increasing operating time of the machine the resultant wear causes vibrations to occur which have a disadvantageous eiect on the liferandpthe quality of the printing of the machine. Therefore,[it is preferred to have a kind of drive, for the variable speed of rotation of the impression cylinder, in which there is no change of driving means involved.

The present invention concerns a drive arrangement for the impressio-n cylinder where there is no change of driving means involved. It has'already been proposedl in connection with driving arrangementsl of this kind to incorporate in the cylinder gear drive, which itself transmits a, constant rotary movement to the impresl sion cylinder, a cam-controlled planetary gear` mechanism which produces the desired variable rotation of the impression cylinder. However, due to the large number of connecting linksl required this kind of drive mechanism is unsuitable for high operating speeds.

ICC

2 applying a corrective movement to the typebed at th proper time by displacing a rack forming a member of the type bed drive. n

The synchronizing of the type bed and impression cylinder is carried out by a pair of cams, forming the control elements of the cam-controlled differential drive, shaped to control the extent and direction of the corrective movement applied to the type bed. This mechanism for applying the corrective or compensating movement to the type bed may also beemployed in conjunctionwith an anti-parallel crank gear drive mechanism which can drive the impression cylinder at a varying speed the same as the drive using varying radii gear.y y Y Other features and advantages of the drive arrangement in accordance with the present invention will be better understood as described in the following specification and appended claims, in conjunction with the following' drawings `in which K f Fig. 1 is a partial side elevation view of the type bed and cylinder drive of a cylinder printing machine hav-v ing a crank and slide guide for driving the type bed and a drive for the impression cylinder eected by means of varying radii gears for rotating the impression cylinder at a varying angular speed;

'Fig A2 a plan view of the type bed and cylinder drive corresponding to Fig. 1; and r f Fig. `3 a partial side elevation view of a cylinder drive mechanism in which the rotation of the impression cylinfder at varying angular speed is 4etlected by an antiparallel crank gear. v V

The printing press shown in thedrawings (Fig`s.1Y and 2) comprises a frame or baseon which a type bed 2 is reciprocated, in known manner, on roller tracks 3 by means of a drivepinion 4, which engages a rack 5 mounted'on the type bed and meshes with a rack 6 which is displaceably mounted in the base so that it can be moved longitudinally as later herein described. A 'connecting rod 7, is connected at one vend to the pinion 4 and has its other end connected to a rocking lever 9 by a pin S. The rocking lever 9 is pivotally mounted at its lower end in the base on pins 10. fAt either side of the rocking lever 9 there' are provided slides 11 and 11' Vrespectively in which sliding 'blocksv 12 and 12' respectively slidably engage. rIfhe slidable' blocks 12 and 12 respectively are pivotally mounted on pins 13 and 13', which are fixed in gear wheels 14 To avoid the disadvantages of the last mentioned i mechanism it is proposed, in accordance with the inven# tion, to employ the combination of non-circular gears for driving the impressioncylinder, at a varying `speed h and 14 disposed on either side of the rocking lever 9.J

The gear wheels 14 and 14 are mounted on the ends of Vshafts 45 and 45 which are rotatably mounted in the machine frame 1. When the gear wheels 14 and 14' are rotated the vpins 13 and 13 and the blocks 12 and 12' in accordance with the invention is that a cam-controlled ,l s

diierential drive, used as a synchronizing device, makes it .economically feasible to construct an impression cylinder drivehaving oval or elliptical gears effecting Vthe variable speed of rotation of the cylinder. While in theory it was heretofore thought possible to variably drive the impression cylinder with oval or elliptical gears it was not practical because such gears cannot be made economically with suicient accuracy so that the speed of the cylinder is accurately and positively synchronized with the movement of the type bed during the printing period. However, the use of a cam-controlled diierential drive makes it possible to use oval or elliptical gears in the cylinder drive arrangement since absolute accuracy of the varying radii need not be maintained and the diierential in speeds between the type bed and impression cylinder is completely compensated for by cause the lever 9 to execute a non-uniform or variable swinging movement so that during the printing period' of the type bed 2, it is moved slowly and accelerated at the return thereof. The gear wheels 14 and 14 are drivenpat a uniformy speed by the gear wheels 15 and 15 respectively which are iirmly connected with a shaft 16 mounted in the base 1,.l The shaft 16 `has a large gear 17 mounted thereon which engages `a pinion 18 of"a ywheel shaft"V 19O ,extendingy through a fwall of the base 1. Outside thefra'me 1 of themachine theshaft 19carries a flywheel 20 mounted in the base or frame 1 and is rotatable on a bearing 21. The flywheel 20 is provided with a pulley arrangement 20 by which the shaft 19 can be driven from a power source, not shown, thereby providing drive for the other drive mechanisms.

In the above described example of the construction of the press there is arranged on either side of the rocking lever 9 a gear wheel 14 and 14 respectively. However, it will be understood that it is also possible to use a single slide block guide on one side only of lever 9 by using only one gear wheel 14. The driving ratios,

Patented Feb. 9, ,Isso

. "aaaewayf in `bothV examples, `are so` chosen that the gear wheels 14 and 14 respectively execute Vone rotation AperI print; ing operation or a complete-reciprocation of the type bed. L`,"I`lrie driver'for the .impressionV cylinder 22Y comprises a. gea.rf23 which Aengages with the flywheel pinion 18;

The gear 23 is mounted on a shaft24, which isy rotatably mounted `in the machine frame 1 and on whichis xed i i a `pinion 25.` The pinion V25 engages'vwith a gear `2.6

2 8 .havingrvar`ying radii as shown. The gear 28 meshes` with a second gear 29 having varying radii lwhich is f irmlykeyed to anaxle journa130 of the impression cylinder :22. T husthe impression cylinder 22` is rotted in the direction indicated by the arrow at a "chang-V impression cylinder is variably driven by this arrange,

ment or drive at4 exactly the same 4changing angular speed as if ellipticalgearshad been used. To overcome the dead center position when the two anti-parallel` cranks 36 and `40respectivelyre rotating `there `are provided, in known manner, aball 41 `and a `socket `42 at opposite ends ofscrank 36 and `a ball 43 `anda socket 44 atoppositeendsof` crank `4t). .The` ball of each crank engages in the socket of the associated crank and insures cotinuous rotation of the cylinder.` More'- over`to eliminate rotation" problems in the `critical dead center positions it ispossibleto eliminate the ball and socket arrangementfandprovide `the ends of the `cranks with a plurality of `small conventional gear teeth, not shown. i

While preferredembodirrients ofthe invention have been shown and described it` will be understood that manyv modifications andrchanges canvv be made within the lscope-of the invention.V

ing angular'speed when the type bed is reciprocated.Y

The; shape` of the gears 28 and 29 is such that the impression cylinder is rotated at such a variablespeedk that :during the printing period it agrees with the speed with, butk thereis a slightspeed differential. The` remaining diierence in speedk betweenirthe type bed and the impression cylindenduring the printing period issynchronized by means of a known control gear.`

The .synchronizing is eiected by a timedjlongitudinal displacement ofthelower ,rack 6 in` thebase 1. `For this purpose the rack 6 is connected-withtwo Yarms,

31 andi31 respectively, the freeends of which are slidablyv mounted in the machine frame 1` at .oneendy thereof as shown in Fig. 2..V t,

On the arm 31there isV rotatably mounted a roller or camfollower 32 and on the arm 31 airoller or;`

cam follower 33. `The cam follower 32=1cooperates with'a cam `disc 34, which is mounted on the gear wheel 14 while `the camrfollower 33 cooperates with a cam disc 35mounted on the gear wheel'14. The] cam discs 34 or35 areshaped sothat the-rack 6 with each revolution'0f;the gear wheels: 14 and 14', executes `a short reciprocating` movement. The extent and direction of:

the `reciprocal movement of the rackcorresponds with thenecessary correctionv of` the type bed movement durf ing the` period of printing thereby causing thevtype bed movement duringgthe printing periodto be completely synchronized with the movement of the impression cylinder. Y i

The' configuration of. the non-circular gearsA 28 or 29l may among other thingsfbe oval or` an elliptical shape. It `is also possible' touse, as shown in Fig. 3,v

ananti-.parallelcrank gear instead of elliptical gears for variably driving the impressioncylinder.k In this case,

ofthe-type bed fairly or substantially accurately'there-V .i

the pin 27 which is firmly connected with the gear125 i i and which rotatesfuniformly in the direction indicated by the arrow, has a crank36 mounted thereon disposed on the'outside of the frame wall. `A link` 37 which is connected to ,the crank36 by a'pin 38- and by a pin 39`to"a crank` 40 mounted on the axle journal 30 of i the impression cylinder 22, the impression` cylinder -22 is rotated in'thefdirection indicated` by the arrow. The

,Wlatlfclaim and'rdesirefto secure by Letters Patent is 1 v reciprocable on .said base, a rotatable impressioncylinder Vco-operatingQwith said type bed andrst drive means operative at aselected speed, the,combination'ofrsecond drive means comprising. an anti-parallel crank gear mechanism actuated` by said `first drive means for rotatiing theimpression cylinder unidirectionally at a variable speed,third drive means :driven from said rst drive means l for' reciprocatingY saidtype` bed at such a variable speed that said impression cylinder andy the` type bedare` ap-v proximately infregistry during each impression period intermediate thej ends..` of each` impression stroke of the type bed and a cam-controlled differential fdrivejoperatively connected for completely synchronizing the speeds of-the cylinder and the typclbed during each impression period thereby tocause the cylinder andV type bed tofbe in exact registry `during each of` said impression periods.

2. In `a' `printing press having` a base, a type `bed reciprocable on said base, afrotatable'impression cylinderrco-operating with saidy type be'd and rst drive means operative at 4a selected speed, the combinationoffsecond drive means includingtwo;co-operative oval` gears, ac-

`tuated` -byV said rst drivemeans `for .rotating `the impression cylinder uni,directionally` at a `variable speed,

third drive means` driven from. said `iirst drive means u forreciprocatingsaid type bed at such a variable speed thatsaid impressioncylinder andthe type bed are ap-` proximately in.;v registryduring each impression `period intermediatev the `ends of each1impressifon stroke of the Y typeibed andra cam-controlled differential drive opera-v tively connected for completelyfsynchronizing the ,speeds of` thefcylinder and the type(bed1duringeach impression periodthereby `to causethe cylinder and type bed to be x in exactrregistry during-.reach` of :said impression periods;Y

References thefile of this patent UNITED sjrAr-EsPALTENTs 1,854,566! spiro Q.- Apr. ,19,1932 .2,066,429 Stussinn. Ian. `5, 1937 l2,567,578 Ranger'` ..-c Sept. 1l, 1951 .1. In a-y printingipress having a base, a typebed` 

